


The Blip

by akasharpiegirl



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Irondad, Morgan Stark Needs a Hug, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Parent Pepper Potts, Pepperony Week, Spider-Man: Far From Home (Movie) Spoilers, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Working on comedic relief, happy sappy ending, it makes me cry ew, pepperonyweek19, pw19, why would I like the canonical ending of that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-11 01:31:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20145349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akasharpiegirl/pseuds/akasharpiegirl
Summary: The moment in 2023 when everyone’s loved ones returned from ash five years after Thanos completed the Decimation — thanks to Morgan Stark’s father and his teammates, Tony Stark and the Avengers. The Avengers that remained after the Decimation, that is. It wasn’t easy, no. Pepper wouldn’t let Tony go through with it until he finally convinced her that he’d be okay. (Thankfully, he came out alive. Barely, but after rehabilitation, he’s back to his usual self. Just, retired. The title ‘Tony Stark - Stay at home Dad’ suits him well.)Tony still has panic attacks about the blip. Even after ten years. Not very often now though. He goes to therapy now, even after he protested against the idea for the longest time.The blip was not something that was ever spoken about in the Stark homestead. Well, it was. On occasion. Morgan knew it happened, but she had no idea that her Dad was the main reason the Decimation never occurred again. Pepper and Tony hid that from her, thinking that would shield her from any anxiety that no kid should have to grow up with.Neither of them realized that Morgan would find out through a world history class first.





	The Blip

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously wasn’t intended for the family/Morgan prompt for #PepperonyWeek19 because I got it up late, but I tried! If there’s spelling mistakes please let me know and I’ll fix them ASAP! Let me know what you think! I hope you enjoy it! I got this idea after a music camp for some reason.

The blip. 

The moment in 2023 when everyone’s loved ones returned from ash five years after Thanos completed the Decimation — thanks to Morgan Stark’s father and his teammates, Tony Stark and the Avengers. The Avengers that remained after the Decimation, that is. It wasn’t easy, no. Pepper wouldn’t let Tony go through with it until he finally convinced her that he’d be okay. (Thankfully, he came out alive. Barely, but after rehabilitation, he’s back to his usual self. Just, retired. The title ‘Tony Stark - Stay at home Dad’ suits him well.)

Tony still has panic attacks about the blip. Even after ten years. Not very often now though. He goes to therapy now, even after he protested against the idea for the longest time.

The blip was not something that was ever spoken about in the Stark homestead. Well, it was. On occasion. Morgan knew it happened, but she had no idea that her Dad was the main reason the Decimation never occurred again. Pepper and Tony hid that from her, thinking that would shield her from any anxiety that no kid should have to grow up with. 

Neither of them realized that Morgan would find out through a world history class first.

———

Tony’s mind wandered as the Friends end theme song played on the television in the lake house. Not too eager to ask Netflix to skip to the next episode. But he quickly came back to reality when his phone went off though. He stared at his phone for a moment, seeing the name, ‘Mrs. Stark’ gleaming on the phone, before answering the call. “Hey Pep-“

“Hey, Tony? Can you pick up Morgan?”, Pepper’s voice was taut as she interrupted his greeting. 

“Like this afternoon? Ye-”, Tony barely got out before Pepper spoke over him. 

“No, right now,” Pepper answered. 

“Right now?”, Tony asked, concern lacing his voice.

“FRI said that the school nurse described her symptoms as a severe panic attack,” Pepper quickly answered. “They need one of us to come pick her up. But I’m about to head to a board meeting.”

“What on Earth would have caused it? That's extremely odd. I'll keep you updated, yeah?”, Tony was quick to answer, he was struggling to keep himself from having his own attack at the thought of his daughter being cursed with Anxiety too. But how? How could she?

————

“Try to drink some more water Morgan. One of your parents are on their way,” the nurse said, her voice laced with helpless care.

Morgan was too focused on the what ifs and couldn't get away from her thoughts. She wanted reassurance. She wanted to get away from what she had found out through a damn textbook. Why didn't she know this? She felt even more tears fall as she thought about it.

“I'm here to pick up Morgan-”, Tony could barely say as he quickly signed Morgan out before the secretary pointed to his shaking and crying daughter that sat behind the desk. 

Tony quickly found his way to Morgan, “Morgan? Can you look at me? I’m right here it’s okay. You’re okay.” This was surreal for him. He saw himself in Morgan and all he could think of was the millions of times when Pepper had to help him come down from panic attacks. “Do you know what happened? What can I do to help?”

Morgan shook her head ‘no’, another bout of tears fell. “I-I don’t know,” she mumbled. 

“Can you do something for me?”, Tony asked, noticing how much she was shaking and how quickly she was inhaling and exhaling. He carefully held onto Morgan’s shaking hand, offering reassurance. She flinched at first, but relaxed a moment later. “I need you to try to calm your breathing before we go home, okay?”

“The psychologist already tried that-“, the secretary interjected.

Tony ignored her. “Come on, Maguna. You can do this. In for four, hold for seven, and out for eight.”

———-

“Why didn’t you tell me?”, Morgan asked Tony. “Why’d you keep it from me, Dad?”

Tony tensed at the sudden question, still driving down the winding road to their home. “Morgan, what are you talking about?”

“Ten years ago? The… The Blip,” Morgan struggled to answer.

That’s not what Tony expected Morgan to say. The next thing Tony knew, he had swerved off to the side of the road. Yep, that’s right. He had surgery ten years ago and unfortunately, that surgery didn’t cause any amnesia of said day. Tony desperately looked over, seeing his kid safe despite his sudden loss of control of the car. But the thoughts about the blip came rushing back. And he tried so desperately not to look pained by his thoughts. 

“FRI, call Pepper,” he struggled to state after a few minutes of horrified silence.

“Tony?”, Pepper asked. “I just got out of the meeting, is everything okay-“

“Morgan found out,” Tony said. “About 2023.”

“Are you okay? Is she okay? Is that why she had a panic attack?”, Pepper questioned.

“Sounds about right,” Tony confirmed.

“We’ll talk about it when I get home, alright? As long as you two are fine, that’s what matters. I’ll be home in three hours. Morgan, I’m sure you’re probably mad at us for keeping it from you but please give us a chance to explain why we made that decision. It made sense in that time, but obviously that decision didn’t last the test of time. I’m so sorry,” Pepper apologized.

————

“I can't believe you didn’t even tell me! No wonder it never comes up in this house!”, Morgan yelled. 

“Morgan Hope Stark-“, Pepper warned.

“I’m serious, why didn’t I know? Why did you leave it up to my history teacher to tell me? It wasn’t even her, I saw your face on the page in my textbook that she told us to turn to. And then I found out for myself. On my own. And everyone saw me break. Everyone saw me have an anxiety attack because I didn’t know!”, Morgan yelled, pointing at her Dad. “All of this could’ve been avoided if you guys would’ve just told me! Dad, Mom, please. You have to understand where I’m coming from here.”

“We do know where you’re coming from,” Tony took in a deep breath. “You brought up a question ‘why didn’t I know’. Your mom was going to explain it to you a moment ago but you just so haphazardly interjected.” He put air quotes around Morgan’s statement.

“I’m sorry”, Morgan stated, sitting at the seat across from her parents.

“We were going to tell you. When it happened, you were five. That wasn’t a good time to explain why Dad had to go to the hospital and receive rehabilitation. So, to protect you, we said he got hurt at work. Which, in all intents and purposes, technically that wasn’t a lie. Just happened to be a very specific situation that caused it - one that would cause effects not only on us but the entirety of the universe. You were ten when we considered telling you,” Pepper explained.

“But honestly, five years later wasn’t enough time for me to heal emotionally. Physically, yes I was on my way. I looked normal, all range of motion back in my right arm. But your Mom can attest to this when I say that I still had nightmares about that moment in time five years later. Many of them were dreams centered around losing you,your Mom, and even your big brother Peter again. Thanos, he threatened to shred this world to its last atom, which meant I’d lose my family. And I couldn't let that happen, Morgan. After years of trying to become a better person, I finally got what I’ve always longed for. I married my true love, she became my wife. Which she gave birth to you, our daughter. And I, after a mental breakdown, adopted Gerald the Alpaca. Who we all love even though your Mom refuses to say so because he eats her goji berries,” Tony answered, trying to calm a crying Morgan.

“We were going to tell you sometime soon, it seemed appropriate. But I don’t think either of us thought about the chance of your world history class covering it before we felt comfortable,” Pepper explained. “This day, ever since then, we still treat it like any other normal day. No emotional attachments connected. It’s just easier for us. That’s why it never comes up in this house. But I’m sorry we didn’t bring it up sooner.”

“I-I get that, but it’s not even just that,” Morgan stood up, already making her way upstairs to her room. “You wouldn’t get it.” What she felt, didn’t even make sense to her. Why would they get it? Morgan could hear both her Dad and Mom protesting her to stay with them so she could explain. But how could they possibly understand how much this news hurts her?

———

“It’s been five minutes, Tony,” Pepper glanced over to the stairwell and back at Tony a moment later. 

“She’s not going to want to talk to me, Pep,” Tony quickly gave his rebuttal.

“Maybe not at first but it seems like you’re the person she needs to talk to,” Pepper stated. “Like she said, us keeping it from her is only the surface. There’s another reason why she reacted the way she did and I honestly could see why. Just try to talk to her?”

“Sure, fine,” Tony answered, already walked up the stairs.

A quiet, “Good luck,” from Pepper came from the living room. 

Tony quietly knocked on Morgan’s door a moment later.

No answer.

“Morgan, can I talk to you?”, Tony asked. 

A soft thud hit the door a moment later, the source Tony gathered to be either a pillow or Morgan’s Hedwig plushie she got for her birthday last year. 

“Even though you don’t want me to talk to you, I’m coming in anyway,” Tony answered, pushing open the door, and glancing down at the familiar snowy owl that laid at Tony’s feet. He picked the poor owl up and tossed it to Morgan. “You know I don’t think Hedwig appreciates being thrown at your door like that.”

Morgan crossed her arms after she caught said owl, her voice was quiet, “She was trying to send you a message.”

“Mhm, that message was received,” Tony nodded. 

“Why do you want to talk to me? I already told you, you wouldn’t get it,” Morgan spoke up once Tony sat down next to her.

“What makes you think I won't get how you feel?”, Tony asked. “Wouldn't it be worth it to just get out how you feel, even if for some odd reason I don't get it?”

“Because… I don’t know? Something tells me it’s stupid to feel the way I do?”, Morgan answered. She mumbled the next statement, “As if it’s stupid to feel anxious after you involuntarily question what your life would be like if someone close to you just never came back.”

“What? Morgan, what did you just say?”, Tony asked. Though he thought he heard right, he wanted to make sure.

Morgan rolled her eyes, “I shouldn’t have even said anything.”

“No, you should’ve. Please, just try to tell me, okay? I’ll, uh-“, Tony paused mid-sentence, looking around before stopping at the sight of Morgan’s plushie and taking the plushie from her. “I’ll put Hedwig in front of my face if talking about it to her would be easier.”

Morgan couldn’t help but let out a small laugh over that. But she quickly regained her composure that she had a few moments prior. “I guess, reading about that, it just opened my eyes. It made me realize how different my life would be if that one outcome would’ve been any different. My history book said that there were 14,000,605 outcomes and only one would truly work in the end, that was predicted by Stephen Strange. I just, I couldn’t help but think about the other millions of outcomes there could’ve been.”

Tony lowered the owl plushie from his face at her last statement before a small pause, Morgan wasn’t actually paying attention to the fact her Dad had dropped his owl disguise.

“Like, would anything be the same?”, Morgan asked, now looking back up at Tony.

“Morgan, honey, it’s not stupid of you to think about that,” Tony said, trying not to break, simply because this subject was now not only tough for him and Pepper, but it was tough for their daughter to talk about too. 

Heaven knows he thought about that very thing a lot too - for Morgan, for Pepper, for Peter, for everyone connected to their little family. 

What would Peter’s European trip be like? If something were to go wrong back then, it only makes sense some former business rivals would try to take the poor kid out. Would Morgan be who she is today? Would Pepper be okay? 

“But would it?”, Morgan ask.

“I don’t think so,” Tony said quietly. “I’ve thought about that myself. For you, for your Mom, for Peter…”

“You have?”, Morgan asked, wiping the small tear tracks from her face as she looked at her Dad.

“Mhm,” Tony hummed. “Quite a bit. Your Mom usually has to get me out of that headspace though, it’s not a good place to be.”

“I just can't help but think about our rolled ice cream father-daughter dates after my math and science quiz days… Then the father-daughter Valentine’s dances that we’ve gone to since I learned how to walk properly. You teaching me how to dance at six years old. And the intense battles on Super Smash Brothers Ultimate between you, Peter, and I, when Peter’s visiting from college. Mom watching from afar because she swears she can’t play but everyone knows it’s just because she’s too competitive. Going to see the crappy Pixar remakes of Toy Story on matinee nights just for fun. Dad, I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here… I really don’t. None of those memories, they wouldn’t be here,” Morgan rambled on as she sat next to her Dad. “That’s why I freaked out in class.”

He couldn’t help but laugh about the Super Smash Brothers comment and the Toy Story comments. “Yeah, I don’t think she’s realized we’ve cracked her secret. Morgan, I love spending time with you. Spending time with you is one of the highlights of every single day that passes, you know.” He paused. 

It was quiet for a moment.

“But, Morgan, hey, it’s okay. You’re okay. We’re okay. I’m okay. What’s important is that those memories are here and they’re there to stay,” Tony reminded Morgan, using the same exact tactic Pepper has used countless times to help him out of that exact same headspace.

“Y-Yeah, I know,” Morgan said a couple seconds later. “I’m sorry,I could've handled this on my own. I shouldn't have overreacted. You were probably busy.”

“I'm barely busy anymore, child. What on Earth do you think I could've possibly been doing when I got a call requesting to come pick up my kid?”, Tony asked.

“I don't know,” Morgan answered.

“Uh-huh, that's what I thought. To be honest, I was watching the episode of Friends where Monica and Chandler finally get married,” Tony stated.

“YOU WATCHED IT WITHOUT ME?”, Morgan was taken aback by her Dad’s statement.

“Chill out, we have it on digital for a reason,” Tony laughed at Morgan’s overreaction.

It was quiet again.

“I love you tons, Dad,” Morgan broke the silence.

“I love you 3000, madam secretary,” Tony responded.

Little did the father-daughter duo know, Pepper had heard the majority of their heartfelt conversation.


End file.
